In the context of teaching culture, this article presents teaching materials that provide learners of German with opportunities to reflect about, analyze, and practice, how Germans commonly react to compliments. Based on findings from conversation analysis, the materials provide students with rich contextual information and a variety of…

Experiences in teaching French verb tenses to Japanese students are used to illustrate teaching techniques that not only help students acquire verb forms but also present them as a coherent linguistic unity tied to fundamental communicative needs. A variety of exercises are included. (MSE)

Notes that traditional methods of teaching vocabulary development do not reflect the learning patterns of basic writing students. Suggests ways of modifying vocabulary instruction to help remedial students. (RL)

This article reflects one session of a course in thinking and communicating for Pace University (New York) faculty. The purpose of the course was to heighten awareness that language can seriously misrepresent events which it describes, thus affecting students' ability to perceive, evaluate, and make day-to-day decisions. Beginning with a concrete…

Because teachers are asking for specific suggestions to help students apply comprehension skills and read content material, a mechanism that assists students in acquiring and applying specific comprehension skills as they read content texts is being investigated. The mechanism is called marginal gloss because learning activities are placed in the…

Hesitation serves many purposes, allowing us to choose and combine words better, make discourse more cohesive and regulate its flow, and think. Frequency and length varies with the cognitive activity, but is not always easy to interpret. Foreign language instruction can help students interpret hesitations and use them to advantage. (MSE)

An analysis of the skills involved in listening comprehension and techniques for developing them in students looks first at elements of the general process of interpretation, showing the essential importance of the interpretative functions as contrasted with simple comprehension of sounds and decoding of meaning. The first section looks at…

This report describes a project that used children's literature to introduce 6- and 7-year-old children (n=25) in the United States to other languages to arouse their interest in finding out more about language. Most of the children were monolingual and spoke English; two boys spoke some Spanish. The study was conducted to see if young children's…

Students and teachers experience the world primarily through visual, kinesthetic, or auditory representational systems. If teachers are aware of their own favored system and those of their students, classroom communication will improve. Neurolinguistic programing can help teachers become more effective communicators. (PP)

A technique for teaching dialog is outlined that provides considerable preproduction input and acquisition experiences through which students create dialog lines. The technique uses these steps: prenarrative activities, narrative, contextual expansion of new vocabulary, reading input, dialog construction from visual cues, dialog recreation, and…

Two complementary theoretical approaches to children's foreign language acquisition, the monitor theory and theory of negotiation, are outlined. Three useful teaching techniques (meaningful practice, communication games, and children's playground games) are discussed in light of these theories, and related issues in syllabus and materials design…

The Shared Responsibility Model (SRM), a language process model that has been used effectively in classrooms that serve limited and proficient English speakers interacting within the same environment, can be utilized with Navajo children. SRM's philosophy recognizes that students learn and retain vocabulary most effectively when they: (1) learn…

Describes a project where children follow the natural progression of becoming literate in their native language (Spanish) before developing literacy in the language of the school. Demonstrates the manner in which social interaction is part of literacy acquisition at the early stages. (MG)

Analysis and assessment of young children's spontaneous writing and drawing in daily journals may focus on three significant dimensions: what, who, and how: what stands for thought and meaning; who, for person; and how, for form. These categories may be further divided. Thought and meaning include theme(s), organization, and vocabulary; person…

Articles on individualization in English language learning, a bibliography and list of selected additions to the English Teaching Information Centre archives (October 1977 - April 1978), and a list of recent publications are presented. An introduction by Elizabeth Smyth and the following articles are included: "Autonomy, Self-Directed Learning and…